A tour of duty through the worst that the world has to offer Before his time as a professor of writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before penning multiple Nebula and Hugo Award–winning novels and stories, Joe Haldeman was a soldier in Vietnam, an experience that changed him and colored much of what he has written. War Year is Haldeman's first novel and his first attempt to describe what he saw in Vietnam and give insight into what happened for the benefit of those who weren't there. The minimalist War Year follows the life of John Farmer, a combat engineer, over the course of a year in Vietnam. John undergoes training, and then, along with his fellow soldiers, does whatever it takes to survive in unforgiving conditions. Powerful and affecting, War Year reaches its highest peaks as it describes with enduring truth the sights and experiences of what it was like to be in the humid jungles of Vietnam in 1968. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joe Haldeman including rare images from the author's personal collection.
"Haldeman is much more than just a military SF writer, but it's clear that Vietnam remains central to his existence and the nightmare inspiration for some of his best work . . . Far from escapist, Haldeman's art provides a devastating retrospective of a particularly black time in American history."
Publishers Weekly
"A powerfully direct narrative thrust . . . Hemingway looks like Mr. Haldeman's most obvious model. . . . The novel carries absolute conviction in its own terms; Mr. Haldeman catches the way serving soldiers talk and move and respond to each other with a fidelity that is harsh but never inhumane."
